Hi Everybody:

I just negotiated a dealership for TERLYN's LSB boiler feedwater treatment products. I welcome this opportunity because foaming, priming and entrained scale are major enemies of good cylinder lubrication and these are common pervasive problems in all power plants, especially locomotives with their high steaming rates and small steam spaces. Good feedwater control leads to better cylinder lubrication regardless of whose oil you are using.

I would like to put out an APB to the industry and ask everyone who is using LSB, and those who do not use it what you think about it, or why you are not using it. My research and experience tells me it works quite well within reasonable feedwater quality limits and that it is a major advance in feedwater control technology.

Any other thoughts will be appreciated.

Bill Petitjean

petitinc@nwlink.com

> Hi Everybody:

> I just negotiated a dealership for TERLYN's
> LSB boiler feedwater treatment products.
> Any other thoughts will be appreciated.

> Bill Petitjean

Bill, I'm sorry to see you involved with Terlyn. In the past it has been sold as a "One size fits all, cure for anything that ails you" program. It can't take the place of a true water testing and treatment program. I have reccommended it in the past for people who can't be bothered to learn about or understand water chemistry, but I have many unanswered questions about it. The MSDS sheet they provide doesn't tell you anything about it. The company wants you to send the samples to them, so there is no way to monitor it on a daily basis. There are questions about the effects on the health of those who come in contact with it. If I don't understand how it works how can I be sure if I'm using it correctly? Maybe you can answer these questions that were left unanswered in the past. Even so,if I were to use it the cost would be far more than my current water treatment program.

Martyhuck@aol.com

We used this water treatment for one summer. It produced no different results than our present water treatment. It cost more. Two employees got sick when exposed to the steam. MSDS information is inconclusive and incomplete because of proprietary chemicals.

We are more comfortable using chemicals of known identity where results are quantifiable based upon dosage rather than a one-size-fits-all material. We have used boiler "cocktails" in the paste and have learned that it is best to only put in what you need and nothing else.


Strasburg Rail Road
linnwm@supernet.com

The testing being done by the provider brings up the possibility of a conflict of interest from my POV.

When I first started working at Georgetown Loop we washed out every 30 days (if we got that far) and got about 5 or 6- 5 gallon buckets of mud. Blowdown schedule was twice daily minimally. The supplier of the treatment tested our water and naturally always recommended adding more of his product line rather then any other change.

The situation got no better, and subsequently I found a "bridge" of undissolved chemistry across the throat sheet on 40 during an internal.

Subsequent testing by a disinterested third party resulted in massive (80 - 90 percent) cuts back on treatment chemicals and the installation of a water softening plant. Washout after 30 days showed reduction of mud to about 1 or 2 gallons.

I also instituted a program of weekly in-house testing of the water going into the tender and water from the boiler. Test kits aren't hard to use and don't require a chemical engineer to interpret. Treatment and blowdown intervals were regulated by the test results.

So, GLRR had a good program in place even before LSB found its way there after I moved back to the southeast, and its inception was a direct result of difficulties of tests having been done by the same entity that sells the chemicals. After all, a hammer salesman will try to define all your problems as nails.

LSB may in fact be a good product under certain circumstances, but how is a user going to be able to define those circumstances and keep up with any necessary alterations without independent testing?

dave



irondave@bellsouth.net

Dear Bill:
I might give this "stuff" a try IF:
1) The MSDS sheet indicates what the "stuff" is so I can determin whether or not the "stuff" will be hazardous to me, the guys who work with it or the environment (remember, we blow down into the atmosphere).
2) Provide a a daily test that I can perform to see if the "stuff" is doing it's job and that I am not wasting my money by putting too much "stuff" in.
I would note that when I inquired about this "stuff" a couple of years ago, the cost per year was estimated to be over four times what we pay for "traditional" water treatment (sulfite and caustic with a polymer).
J. David

jdconrad@snet.net